The Turning Tides

CHAPTER Thirty-One

HOMESTEAD



~



The holidays came and went swiftly, flying by along with our shared birthday. There had been no more trouble, and Ethan and I settled into a comfortable routine of school and work. Now that I was over eighteen, we were ready to make it official, and it didn’t matter if anyone else thought we were too young. I had more than made up my mind, and if I’d inherited anything from my father, it was his stubbornness.

Dad wanted to stand up and walk with me, asking us to wait until he could do it without a cane. Ethan was eager to please him and agreed, surprising me with his patience. He had subtlety changed; still driven, Ethan now spoke about the future with confidence, and I no longer got the sense that he was mapping things out merely for the comfort of having a plan.

I grew closer to Amrita, and I was happy to see my family expand again. Much to Evie’s chagrin, Dad and Amrita had opted for a civil service wedding, insisting on tying the knot at city hall. Denied the perfect opportunity to throw one of her grand fetes, she insisted on hosting a lavish banquet to send them off on their lecture tour.

Our small family sat clustered at the end of Evie’s long table in the massive dining room of her penthouse apartment. The length of the table was crowded with my father’s colleagues, Evie’s high society friends and the university’s largest donors. It was exactly the sort of event my father hated, and I felt a rush of sympathy watching him endure toast after toast singing his praises.

Abby and Amrita had hit it off immediately, bonding over their common quest for the ideal diet, prompting Dad and Dutch to roll their eyes at each other in sympathy. Cruz and Brad spent the better part of the dinner with their heads together, discussing their latest business venture. Brad had insisted on using some of his newly acquired fortune to launch Cruz’s first line of sportswear, and under Evie’s expert tutelage, it was certain to be a success.

After the lavish ten course meal wound down, Evie pulled her chair up to where Ethan and I sat holding hands, “Are you two enjoying yourselves?”

Ethan straightened up politely, “Yes, thank you.”

She smiled at him, looking down the table at my father pulling at his irritating collar. “Honestly,” she shook her head sadly, “I’ll never understand why Martin can’t seem to enjoy his own parties!”

“You know he doesn’t like all this fuss,” I defended him.

“I suppose,” she shrugged with a sigh. Then she looked at me dreamily, “But now we need to discuss your plans. You’re going to make the most beautiful bride. Have you given any thought about where we should have the ceremony?”

“I was thinking about going to Vegas and getting married by an Elvis impersonator,” I joked, a little more than half serious.

Evie wasn’t amused, narrowing her eyes at me, “Marina. This is not a laughing matter.”

“Sorry. It’s only, I’m with Dad– simple will be just fine.” I looked down the table at all the strange faces, “I want to keep it family only.”

Evie reeled back in her chair with horror, her hand to her throat. “This is unacceptable! You can’t possibly get married without a proper wedding!” For the first time she was speaking of our union like she accepted it, and I don’t think that fact was lost on Ethan.

“I’d rather have the right husband than the right wedding,” I squeezed his hand.

“What about the right dress?” An eavesdropping Cruz chimed in from across the table.

Evie was beside herself, and her voice rose dramatically, “You wouldn’t rob me of the opportunity to throw you a wedding!” She turned to Ethan, “Please talk some sense into her!”

Ethan surprised me by siding with Evie. “You know… We’re only going to do this once… I’d hate for you to regret not having a real wedding…”

I arched a brow at him, “A real wedding? Et tu Brute?”

He smiled, “You know what I mean.”

Evie looked relieved, and then leaned in to kiss both of our cheeks, triumphant, “Darlings, just leave the details to me and I’ll throw you the wedding of the century. I’ll have to call Fatima and have her pick an auspicious day.”

I looked back and forth between the two of them.

“I’ll make you a fabulous gown…” Cruz added in.

I could see I was outnumbered, “Alright, on one condition.”

“What?” Evie and Cruz leaned forward expectantly.

“We keep it small… and have it on the beach.”

“The beach!” Cruz complained loudly, “How am I supposed to make a fabulous gown for a beach wedding?”

“A barefoot beach wedding,” I tossed in just to taunt him.

“Make it stop! She’s killing me!” Cruz clutched his heart.

“Take it or leave it,” I folded my arms across my chest.

Cruz struggled to maintain his pout, but I could see his mind was racing, considering the possibilities. I knew I was in good hands; he’d end up making a dress worthy of an oceanic goddess.

Evie sighed. She knew I’d dug in my heels, and had no choice but to agree. She got up to go visit with some other guests, first bending down to murmur in my ear, “You didn’t say what beach.” She wandered off, visions of Tahiti and San Tropez dancing in her head.

“Have we stayed long enough?” Ethan sighed, tired of all the drama.

~

We talked about Evie’s plans on the way home, and again, Ethan surprised me with his take on it. It was hard to believe he’d defend her considering the way he and Evie had clashed when they first met.

“Let her have her way,” he advised me, “You can’t really blame her for trying to make a big deal about it.”

“Why not? She knows I don’t want a big fuss.”

He looked at me reproachfully, “Don’t you see? She thinks of you as her daughter. After everything she’s done for you and your dad… I think you should humor her.”

I knew he was right, and I looked down, quiet for a minute. Then I looked at up at him with narrowed eyes, “Are you sure it’s only Evie that wants a big fancy wedding?”

He laughed, “You got me there. You know how much I like dressing up.”

We took the harbor exit, finally pulling up to our apartment and climbing up the vine covered stairs.

“I’m ready for bed,” he said, opening the door.

“I’m not really that tired,” I replied, following him in.

“Who said anything about sleeping?” He closed the door and wrapped himself around me.

~

The next morning we woke to greet a beautiful day, and I turned to Ethan with a smile, “Wanna go surfing? We can visit Lorelei…”

He shook his head no, “There’s some work I have to take care of this morning… I have a surprise for you later on today.”

“A surprise?”

“There’s somewhere I want to take you.”

“This doesn’t involve horses, does it?”

He laughed, propping himself up on his elbow, “No horses today.”

“Can we go surfing after?”

He leaned over to press his lips on my forehead, “You have a one-track mind.”

I shrugged, “I can’t help it.”

He sighed, looking up with amusement, “The only half mermaid in town, and I gotta go and fall in love with her.”

“The only workaholic surfer on earth, and–” He silenced me with a kiss.

~

Later that day he took me for a drive down the coast, turning onto the familiar exit that led to our land. We parked and climbed out of his truck on the gorgeous sunny afternoon. Spring was perfuming the air with its promise of life renewed, and wildflowers bloomed alongside grass that was almost too bright to look at. Birds swooped and sang in the warm breeze that blew across the field.

Ethan took my hand, leading me down the path that skirted the field. “C’mon, I have something to show you.”

I followed along, breathing deeply of the land. It smelled like Eucalyptus, newly turned earth, and salty ocean air; a perfect blend of the land and the sea. We rounded a little patch of brush to a spot with a panoramic view of the horizon.

First I noticed a white A-frame tent, set in the middle of a freshly leveled patch of ground. It was surrounded by wooden stakes laid out in straight lines, connected by a line of white chalk standing out against the rich brown earth.

I was thrilled, “That’s our house, isn’t it?”

He nodded, leading me around to enter from the ocean side, pausing, “Here’s the porch… and here’s our front door.”

We walked in through the entrance, and up to the tent. Ethan pulled the canvas flap aside and gestured inside. I peeked in to see an air mattress covered with pillows and blankets. I turned back to Ethan with raised eyebrows.

“Is this another thinly veiled ploy to get me into bed?” I asked.

Ethan grinned at me. “Would that be so bad?” he laughed, tossing his handsome head in the direction of the tent. “Just look.”

I ducked to enter. There were blueprints laying across the blankets, and I sat down to inspect them.

“What do you think?” he asked proudly, slipping in to sit on the opposite side.

I glanced up with a smile, “Looks good on paper.”

Ethan described the various features of the house, excited about getting started on the construction. “They’ll be a big porch that wraps all the way around, and a door here, and here.” He showed me where he thought the kitchen should go, pointing out the upstairs bedrooms. I could already see Stumpy prowling through the halls.

“Looks like you thought of everything,” I nodded, impressed.

“See this balcony?” he pointed, “It’ll be right off the master bedroom. We can watch sunsets from our bed.”

“Okay,” I said softly, mesmerized. I loved seeing him like this; eyes bright with enthusiasm, full of ideas and plans. I could not have been any happier than I was right at that moment, and I could scarcely believe how lucky I was. Fate had given me everything I could have possibly hoped for, along with things I didn’t even know I wanted.

“I thought we could celebrate the groundbreaking,” he smiled, leaning across the bed to kiss me gently. He reached an arm down to sweep the plans out of the way, taking me by the small of my back with the other. I kissed him back and he pulled me closer, cupping the back of my head and lowering me onto the cushions.

“I love you,” he said, his lips moving on mine.

“I love you too,” I told him as I pulled him down to me.



Camping in a tent pitched between the stakes planted firmly in the ground, we lay together in the outline of our future home. The sun sank slowly through the sweet spring air, and the moon rose in the sky to take its place.

If I was the moon, Ethan was my sun. Blazing bright and warm, he pulled me into his orbit with a force far more powerful than the turning tides.

I could see it all spread out before me. We would put down deep roots here, and build a home where Ethan and I would work and play side by side. One day we’d start a family of our own, and we’d teach our children to surf along with us.



And we would never have to worry about sharks.





~



EPILOGUE



~



The weather was perfect, the sea calm. The beautiful new ship moved along at a leisurely pace, its sonar scanning the deep ocean waters for signs of life.

“Professor Powell!” An excited girl pointed, nearly jumping up and down, “Look over there!”

He raised his binoculars, “It’s a pod of Humpbacks. Fantastic!”

The other two graduate students moved to the side of the vessel. The four of them were excitedly watching the spouting whales draw closer when a heavyset young man noticed something else.

“Uhm, Professor… Isn’t that a blue whale at two-o’clock?”

“Unlikely,” He swiveled to look, his eyes opening wide, “It’s a pair… A pair of blues!”

Now the group clustered on the opposite side of the ship, eager for a rare sighting of the huge creatures. One submerged, and another rose to blow a spout of jet propelled water fifty feet into the air.

“Blue whales are usually solitary… This must be a mating pair! Someone record some footage of this!” the professor cried.

A girl held a camera over the side, and they all watched in amazement as the enormous animals headed straight for the ship.

“Are you getting this?” the professor asked, his voice rising with excitement, “This is highly unusual behavior! To see blue whales and a pod of humpbacks in such close proximity… It’s completely unheard oof–”

A sharp jolt shook the deck, knocking most of the students to the ground. The camera went flying into the sea with a splash.

“It rammed us!” someone cried, looking back towards where the Humpbacks had converged on the other side, taking turns butting their massive heads into the ship. The girl who’d lost the camera screamed, scrambling backwards and pointing, “Look out!”

With a mighty crash, one of the blue whales struck the other side, tearing an enormous hole into the hull. The ship began to list to one side as it took on water. A couple of the boys had the presence of mind to pass out life vests, but the professor just clung to the rail and stared in horror as the group of whales methodically smashed the ship to bits.

The captain came rushing out from the wheelhouse, and a couple of frightened students helped him unlatch and inflate a lifeboat. They were having a hard time keeping their footing on the slanting deck, but they managed to launch the inflatable despite the relentless and methodical onslaught of the whales.

Everyone scrambled into the raft amid the chaos, and the captain had to tear the Professor from the railing to get him into it safety. The furious attack continued as the fully loaded raft drifted away from the sinking ship. Soon, the only thing left of the research vessel was an iridescent slick of oil undulating on the surface.

“My God,” the professor gasped, “What have I done?”

One of the girls was shaking, hugging herself tightly, “Professor Powell… Why?”

He shook his head, finally dropping it into his hands, muttering something about “dealing with the devil”.

The students watched him numbly, and then looked out across the peaceful sea at the majestic whales slowly swimming away.

If they looked carefully, they might have noticed a small spot of brick red hair surface in their midst, and then disappear with a splash.


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—THE END—

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